Nice summary of what’s going on Rebekah. One Nation are a growing force. A force that is getting my vote. They are the only party that want to keep Australia Australian. I hope every Australian wants to conserve the traditional Australian way of life and joins me in voting for them too.
I urge everyone to look up their party website and read their policies. Common sense is their theme.
I’m still not convinced. I see a lot of protest voting, not so much loyalty voting.
Like many Australians I’ve had enough of the majors, and will most likely never vote for them again. But One Nation doesn’t strike me as a complete party yet with a proper democratic constitution. Their voting history is also confusing, and despite often taking a libertarian outlook, they are a little too fond of surveillance legislation for my liking.
They are closer to ‘complete’ than they’ve ever been and are determinedly working to become a major player. The only way that can happen is for people to vote for them.
I believe they have now broken through the obstacles put in place by the uni-party. It’s just a matter of everyone else believing it too and voting for them - the sky’s the limit.
I don’t think it’s protest voting. I think that’s underestimating the intelligence of the Australians that are changing their vote.
With regard to your ‘democratic constitution’ comment, I encourage you to get on their website and have a good look. They are refining their platform and are clear in what they stand for whether you like it or not.
And their voting history….well, that’s politics I guess. When you’re a minor party trying to get some points on the board, sometimes you’ve got to give a bit to things you don’t necessarily agree with. As they grow, I’m sure you can see their power shifts in their direction. As proof in the pudding, they are now getting preferences from the Libs! Who would have thunk it.
You lost me on “voting history” Dale. That’s actually the only thing that matters - integrity.
One Nation have historically supported the ASIO legislation (let’s see how they vote today), they supported the Hate Crimes bill until public pressure forced them to pivot, and also the metadata retention laws. There are more of course, but these 3 alone demonstrate that ON aren’t consistently pro freedom and Australia first.
I understand your issue with integrity, however when I pass that lense over the rest of politics the stench is the worse. I am happy to hold my nose at some things One Nation do, to get a circuit breaker into the sick, stinking and corrupt system that has run us into ground. The current parties in power don’t listen, enrich themselves whilst stealing from us. Anika Wells, it’s ok to steal if you pay it back when caught. Dan Andrew’s can have an accident and not get breath tested and drive the car without a windscreen(allegedly).
It’s a good sign that they were willing to pivot and listen to the voters. The issue arises of who is the best party to vote for that will make the best changes for Australians - remembering that no party is ever going to be perfect. IMO there is no other party other than One Nation that has a glimmer of a chance of doing that.
It’s also worth remembering that we don’t have to vote for a party. Independents that aren’t tied to party politics are a much better option for voters in my view. MPs must be free to represent their constituents, rather than their Parties.
How do you suppose to keep Australia Australian when the birth rate is plummeting and productivity is stagnant? Mass immigration is causing a range of problems but is propping up population, economic growth and the Boomer housing ponzi scheme. This is what managed decline looks like.
Correct. It all has to change. Reduce immigration so that Australians can take up the work and education places. This will also help with housing affordability because there isn’t as many people to house. And, as a roll-on effect, Australians will be better off financially to be able to have a family. When this happens, the population will increase from within. I realise this is a very simple explanation of a very complex issue, but it is what it is.
Great rundown Rebekah, except for calling the Teals (who are not at all independent) "fiscally conservative". Anyone that supports the net zero expenditure - Snowy 2.0 to the Orana REZ and the next great drainer of taxpayer funds after VNI West the Walcha to Bayswater transmission line - is anything but fiscally conservative. They believe that money grows on trees - and it is OK to bulldoze the same trees - koalas and all! Yes, I am one of the couple of hundred thousand regional Aussies fighting Govco for my home & community, in Barnaby's electorate. Go One Nation.
Well written Rebekah. Now One Nation has taken the seat of Farrer, many people will be encouraged to vote One Nation. The slurs from the opposition and the media don't work anymore. People are not as scared to vote differently now, they can see a One Nation rise and want to jump on the bus.
If the 2 majors (if that's what you still want to call them) can't manage the country well, we'll look for alternatives. Labor and the Coalition have been exposed as a Uni-party, and I for one will enjoy seeing their demise.
I'd love to think ON was our answer but I have my doubts. Let's not forgot that Barnaby was the Deputy PM during the worst Covid years ('21-'22) and did sweet FA for those of us rallying against the tyranny and breach of civil rights. He also looks like a chronic boozer, not a good start. And Pauline is hardly one to instill real optimism IMO...too many stunts, not enough grey matter or substance.
BUT if their surge in popularity, opens the door to minors like Gerard Rennick and his PFP then I'm all in. Anything to overturn the majors and while we're there, drive a stake into the dangerous Greens/Teal lobby.
Joyce does not inspire me either and I agree that fewer stunts and more hard policy is a better approach - although one wonders if Pauline would have had such cut-through without the stunts, to be honest.
Yes, I totally agree. Malcolm Roberts, Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic are all competent and ready to assume ministerial roles in a new three-way coaltion government - all way more qualified than Sussan Ley that the delusional faction bosses and power brokers in the Liberal Party thought fit to offer to us as alternative PM material . . .NOT!!!
No, I'm Tasmanian. Even though I can't vote for him, I'm impressed by Alex Antic and rarely disagree with him. I don't know what that make me politically but I've never really cared for labels or tribalism.
Labor didn't contest Farrer because Albanese didn't want to risk a poor showing particularly pre-budget and Labor correctly predicted the Coalition would receive a drubbing against ONE Nation proving that the Coalition is in terminal decline.
The two-party preferred voting system is the biggest impediment to serious political change in this country, and yet I never hear any of the minor parties calling for it to be replaced. New Zealand adopted proportional voting in 1996 after a 1993 referendum. That's what we need to push for.
"Under First Past the Post, New Zealand general election outcomes displayed many similarities with those in the UK. Two parties, Labour and National, dominating and winning majorities in parliament on fewer than half the votes cast; wrong-winner outcomes (National winning parliamentary majorities in 1978 and 1981 despite winning fewer votes than Labour); and smaller parties unable to get a foothold in parliament despite sizeable vote shares, for example in 1981 the Social Credit party won almost 21% of votes but only two MPs. Of the 1,470 MPs elected under First Past the Post between 1946 and 1993, all but eleven represented either Labour or National."
The “free choice forced vaccination programme” ended me contemplating ever voting liberal/national again. I’ll vote Green before ticking Liberal/National. Changing their positions now only because they’re facing electoral oblivion exemplifies their spinelessness. Do the decent thing (though this will never happen because it’s the Liberal party) and ride your all your ACTUAL free choices to your doom Liberal party.
I think you underestimate how frightened the hardheads in the ALP are. It may look as though the Liberals are the ones leaking votes (and of course they are) but the biggest constituency for one nation is comprised of working families - the middle and outer suburbs - who have been the butt of Labor/Greens/ABC satire for decades, without having any practical alternative (Howard captured these battlers for a short while but overreached badly in his last parliament and they did not remain).
I think we’ll see Labor losing its heartland to ON at the Victorian election - those voters are desperate for a party which might actually represent their interests.
The Liberals have collapsed through failing to stand for anything, the ALP is going to follow them down the same road because they’ve focussed on the same managerial/media/professional classes who are captives of the Greens and whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of their historic core.
It’s the same argument as England where first Boris, the Reform has captured the working class and much of the middle class - who are socially conservative and are happy to actually deliver the fabled fair days work for their fair days pay.
Think you nailed it. Australian people have had enough.
Not enough houses for young Australians then pause Immigration or, reduce it and bring in skilled workers only. Seems like a plan.
This "Intergenerational Wealth" spin is just that, it is spin. It is BS.
So Albo and many other pollies have taken advantage of Negative Gearing and will still do so but they are going to take that advantage away from future investors. How does that help our young people? It dis-ensentivises them to not strive to save. What's the point? Albo and Chalmers should allow then the same advantages that they had and still have.
Albo was adamant that the Negative Gearing and CGT were off the table. It was a pre-election promise. I mean he stated that "50 times" as recently as 2025 but now he has changed his position. What does that say about Labor's long-range vision?😵💫 it says plenty and it is all bad.
This is the worst Govt I have had the displeasure to witness.
May One Nation totally obliterate this rubbish style of political madness.
It will not be easy and they will come under fire but I hope they do not change their grass route values and that they can NEVER be bought.
Then Australia, we have a chance to get our great Country back.
I'm inclined to agree with Evad. I think if cheating at the level of vote count is happening, it is very marginal. Anne, I've not seen any evidence that Australia uses Dominion voting systems. We count paper ballots by hand and there are scrutineers present for the process.
100% agree. Australia's voting system is one thing we can have confidence in. It's the people doing the voting that are the problem, especially the 51% who continually vote themselves more free stuff at the expense of the 49% who pay most of the taxes. That's where our democracy is broken.
Powerful people have known for ages that voters are stupid, gullible, selfish and easily spooked. They also know that he who controls MSM gets to control public beliefs/perceptions. This goes a long way towards explaining why western democracies fail.
Yes, it is indeed the voters who are problematic. They are too easily exploited by clever power players. I do not have a clear idea of a workable alternative. Ultimately humans are fucked by themselves ... by human psychology.
Like I said, I think the main problem is women who expect to be showered with free stuff paid for predominantly by men. I have run out of hope that women will ever sufficiently change their ways to turn around our civilizational decline. I suspect that giving women the vote was the biggest mistake in history and that the mistake will eventually need to be corrected.
Well expressed summary of recent politics by a true wordsmith.
I find it amazing, cum irritating, that the word 'magnate' has only ever been used in connection with Lang and Gina, btw.
Big business might well hate red tape but it also loves immigration (aka cheap, willing labour).
Surely, One Nation is stealing votes from NP/LP, not ALP/GREENS/TEALS, and we will therefore see no difference in government or policy.
Next, I doubt the response to COVID would have been other than it was had One Nation been in control.
All over the planet we had similar responses with politically diverse leadership.
Hanson is tapping into a vein of significant white working class economic pain and associated disgruntlement.
Farage and Trump have been doing similar. They are political opportunists with no capacity (or intention) to deliver better outcomes for the peasants/plebs.
I'm not sure about Hanson but I believe that Malcolm Roberts is sincere in his opposition to Covid and WHO overreach. But I agree with you that grievance politics is not a solution, and the problem for reactionary populism is that the party defines itself by what it's AGAINST when it's out of power, but must redefine itself by what it's FOR once it gains a foothold.
I saw Hanson speak on the vax mandates and I was pretty convinced it came staight from the heart. I was not a One Nation voter at that time but she certainly was passionate about the right to choose, as am I.
Malcolm Roberts is always worth watching. He does such a good job in Senates Estimates. He is a fighter.
The Libs lost me during Covid. I just could not believe what they and Labor reduced this Nation to and that we allowed them to do it. Alex Antic being the obvious exception.
It’s a fight against socialism, Evad. One Nation are for Australians, not global elitists. Their policies certainly would improve Australia and return it back to the democratic capitalist society it’s always been. One where everyone gets a fair go, so long as they commit to Australian values and want to be ‘Australian’.
Nice summary of what’s going on Rebekah. One Nation are a growing force. A force that is getting my vote. They are the only party that want to keep Australia Australian. I hope every Australian wants to conserve the traditional Australian way of life and joins me in voting for them too.
I urge everyone to look up their party website and read their policies. Common sense is their theme.
I’m still not convinced. I see a lot of protest voting, not so much loyalty voting.
Like many Australians I’ve had enough of the majors, and will most likely never vote for them again. But One Nation doesn’t strike me as a complete party yet with a proper democratic constitution. Their voting history is also confusing, and despite often taking a libertarian outlook, they are a little too fond of surveillance legislation for my liking.
They are closer to ‘complete’ than they’ve ever been and are determinedly working to become a major player. The only way that can happen is for people to vote for them.
I believe they have now broken through the obstacles put in place by the uni-party. It’s just a matter of everyone else believing it too and voting for them - the sky’s the limit.
I don’t think it’s protest voting. I think that’s underestimating the intelligence of the Australians that are changing their vote.
With regard to your ‘democratic constitution’ comment, I encourage you to get on their website and have a good look. They are refining their platform and are clear in what they stand for whether you like it or not.
And their voting history….well, that’s politics I guess. When you’re a minor party trying to get some points on the board, sometimes you’ve got to give a bit to things you don’t necessarily agree with. As they grow, I’m sure you can see their power shifts in their direction. As proof in the pudding, they are now getting preferences from the Libs! Who would have thunk it.
You lost me on “voting history” Dale. That’s actually the only thing that matters - integrity.
One Nation have historically supported the ASIO legislation (let’s see how they vote today), they supported the Hate Crimes bill until public pressure forced them to pivot, and also the metadata retention laws. There are more of course, but these 3 alone demonstrate that ON aren’t consistently pro freedom and Australia first.
I wish it were different 😞
I understand your issue with integrity, however when I pass that lense over the rest of politics the stench is the worse. I am happy to hold my nose at some things One Nation do, to get a circuit breaker into the sick, stinking and corrupt system that has run us into ground. The current parties in power don’t listen, enrich themselves whilst stealing from us. Anika Wells, it’s ok to steal if you pay it back when caught. Dan Andrew’s can have an accident and not get breath tested and drive the car without a windscreen(allegedly).
Fair enough.
It’s a good sign that they were willing to pivot and listen to the voters. The issue arises of who is the best party to vote for that will make the best changes for Australians - remembering that no party is ever going to be perfect. IMO there is no other party other than One Nation that has a glimmer of a chance of doing that.
That’s why they’ll be getting my vote.
It’s also worth remembering that we don’t have to vote for a party. Independents that aren’t tied to party politics are a much better option for voters in my view. MPs must be free to represent their constituents, rather than their Parties.
The constitution does not mention political parties or prime minister, I’d be happy to go back to true constituent representation.
Me too. Imagine MPs that only have to consider their constituents, and not the tangles of party room politics.
I guess so. But they’re less likely to have an impact given they’re stand-alone. One Nation will now definitely have an impact.
How do you suppose to keep Australia Australian when the birth rate is plummeting and productivity is stagnant? Mass immigration is causing a range of problems but is propping up population, economic growth and the Boomer housing ponzi scheme. This is what managed decline looks like.
Correct. It all has to change. Reduce immigration so that Australians can take up the work and education places. This will also help with housing affordability because there isn’t as many people to house. And, as a roll-on effect, Australians will be better off financially to be able to have a family. When this happens, the population will increase from within. I realise this is a very simple explanation of a very complex issue, but it is what it is.
Great rundown Rebekah, except for calling the Teals (who are not at all independent) "fiscally conservative". Anyone that supports the net zero expenditure - Snowy 2.0 to the Orana REZ and the next great drainer of taxpayer funds after VNI West the Walcha to Bayswater transmission line - is anything but fiscally conservative. They believe that money grows on trees - and it is OK to bulldoze the same trees - koalas and all! Yes, I am one of the couple of hundred thousand regional Aussies fighting Govco for my home & community, in Barnaby's electorate. Go One Nation.
Fair point Annette!
Well written Rebekah. Now One Nation has taken the seat of Farrer, many people will be encouraged to vote One Nation. The slurs from the opposition and the media don't work anymore. People are not as scared to vote differently now, they can see a One Nation rise and want to jump on the bus.
If the 2 majors (if that's what you still want to call them) can't manage the country well, we'll look for alternatives. Labor and the Coalition have been exposed as a Uni-party, and I for one will enjoy seeing their demise.
I'd love to think ON was our answer but I have my doubts. Let's not forgot that Barnaby was the Deputy PM during the worst Covid years ('21-'22) and did sweet FA for those of us rallying against the tyranny and breach of civil rights. He also looks like a chronic boozer, not a good start. And Pauline is hardly one to instill real optimism IMO...too many stunts, not enough grey matter or substance.
BUT if their surge in popularity, opens the door to minors like Gerard Rennick and his PFP then I'm all in. Anything to overturn the majors and while we're there, drive a stake into the dangerous Greens/Teal lobby.
Joyce does not inspire me either and I agree that fewer stunts and more hard policy is a better approach - although one wonders if Pauline would have had such cut-through without the stunts, to be honest.
ON needs Rennick + Antic to have any real credibility
Yes, I totally agree. Malcolm Roberts, Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic are all competent and ready to assume ministerial roles in a new three-way coaltion government - all way more qualified than Sussan Ley that the delusional faction bosses and power brokers in the Liberal Party thought fit to offer to us as alternative PM material . . .NOT!!!
I agree with Alex Antic on many things, know little about Gerard Rennick, and would never accuse Malcolm Roberts of being competent.
I guess you are not a Queenslander?
No, I'm Tasmanian. Even though I can't vote for him, I'm impressed by Alex Antic and rarely disagree with him. I don't know what that make me politically but I've never really cared for labels or tribalism.
About time.
We need a party to keep the bustards honest.
I'm old to remember who last said that.
Labor didn't contest Farrer because Albanese didn't want to risk a poor showing particularly pre-budget and Labor correctly predicted the Coalition would receive a drubbing against ONE Nation proving that the Coalition is in terminal decline.
The two-party preferred voting system is the biggest impediment to serious political change in this country, and yet I never hear any of the minor parties calling for it to be replaced. New Zealand adopted proportional voting in 1996 after a 1993 referendum. That's what we need to push for.
Thanks Robyn, I didn't realise NZ had switched systems via referendum.
Yes, the process was described in detail by a UK electoral reform society here: https://electoral-reform.org.uk/how-did-new-zealand-get-proportional-representation/ because it's such a useful case study.
"Under First Past the Post, New Zealand general election outcomes displayed many similarities with those in the UK. Two parties, Labour and National, dominating and winning majorities in parliament on fewer than half the votes cast; wrong-winner outcomes (National winning parliamentary majorities in 1978 and 1981 despite winning fewer votes than Labour); and smaller parties unable to get a foothold in parliament despite sizeable vote shares, for example in 1981 the Social Credit party won almost 21% of votes but only two MPs. Of the 1,470 MPs elected under First Past the Post between 1946 and 1993, all but eleven represented either Labour or National."
Sounds familiar!
Yup. POSIWID in action. (The purpose of a system is what it does.)
i am more bullish regards ON. I think PH has finally broken through. BJ has been terrific. i am thinking ON will take office in 2028.
🙏
Total BS.
yeh, you can vote for the uniparty and get more of the same destructive rubbish we have endured for decades.
The “free choice forced vaccination programme” ended me contemplating ever voting liberal/national again. I’ll vote Green before ticking Liberal/National. Changing their positions now only because they’re facing electoral oblivion exemplifies their spinelessness. Do the decent thing (though this will never happen because it’s the Liberal party) and ride your all your ACTUAL free choices to your doom Liberal party.
I think you underestimate how frightened the hardheads in the ALP are. It may look as though the Liberals are the ones leaking votes (and of course they are) but the biggest constituency for one nation is comprised of working families - the middle and outer suburbs - who have been the butt of Labor/Greens/ABC satire for decades, without having any practical alternative (Howard captured these battlers for a short while but overreached badly in his last parliament and they did not remain).
I think we’ll see Labor losing its heartland to ON at the Victorian election - those voters are desperate for a party which might actually represent their interests.
The Liberals have collapsed through failing to stand for anything, the ALP is going to follow them down the same road because they’ve focussed on the same managerial/media/professional classes who are captives of the Greens and whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of their historic core.
It’s the same argument as England where first Boris, the Reform has captured the working class and much of the middle class - who are socially conservative and are happy to actually deliver the fabled fair days work for their fair days pay.
Yes fair, ON pose the most immediate threat to the Coalition but if they do take western Sydney, the ALP will have something to worry about.
Think you nailed it. Australian people have had enough.
Not enough houses for young Australians then pause Immigration or, reduce it and bring in skilled workers only. Seems like a plan.
This "Intergenerational Wealth" spin is just that, it is spin. It is BS.
So Albo and many other pollies have taken advantage of Negative Gearing and will still do so but they are going to take that advantage away from future investors. How does that help our young people? It dis-ensentivises them to not strive to save. What's the point? Albo and Chalmers should allow then the same advantages that they had and still have.
Albo was adamant that the Negative Gearing and CGT were off the table. It was a pre-election promise. I mean he stated that "50 times" as recently as 2025 but now he has changed his position. What does that say about Labor's long-range vision?😵💫 it says plenty and it is all bad.
This is the worst Govt I have had the displeasure to witness.
May One Nation totally obliterate this rubbish style of political madness.
It will not be easy and they will come under fire but I hope they do not change their grass route values and that they can NEVER be bought.
Then Australia, we have a chance to get our great Country back.
Very good..!
A pretty good introductory summary for a global audience of what is going on in Australia. Well done.
An excellent explanation. I believe electoral rigging (cheating) including the vote count is rigged in Australia, just as it is in the USA.
We use the same dominion counting system after all.
Dirty politics has been going on for as long as this country has been developed, following the British system, and we know what’s happening there.
One Nation has been allocated minimal funding from the big guns who are becoming more communistic by the day.
Having been associated with the vote casting/counting process I find it difficult to see how fraud could occur.
Gerrymandering is a different issue.
I'm inclined to agree with Evad. I think if cheating at the level of vote count is happening, it is very marginal. Anne, I've not seen any evidence that Australia uses Dominion voting systems. We count paper ballots by hand and there are scrutineers present for the process.
100% agree. Australia's voting system is one thing we can have confidence in. It's the people doing the voting that are the problem, especially the 51% who continually vote themselves more free stuff at the expense of the 49% who pay most of the taxes. That's where our democracy is broken.
Powerful people have known for ages that voters are stupid, gullible, selfish and easily spooked. They also know that he who controls MSM gets to control public beliefs/perceptions. This goes a long way towards explaining why western democracies fail.
Yes, it is indeed the voters who are problematic. They are too easily exploited by clever power players. I do not have a clear idea of a workable alternative. Ultimately humans are fucked by themselves ... by human psychology.
Like I said, I think the main problem is women who expect to be showered with free stuff paid for predominantly by men. I have run out of hope that women will ever sufficiently change their ways to turn around our civilizational decline. I suspect that giving women the vote was the biggest mistake in history and that the mistake will eventually need to be corrected.
One Nation were the only party to pass this test: https://wentworthreport.com/tested-and-found-wanting/
Is has really made me sit up and take notice.
I first realised just how screwed we are if you get on the wrong side of power, politics and the MSM with the Lindy Chamberlain case.
I do not trust what we are told by these unstitutions.
Well expressed summary of recent politics by a true wordsmith.
I find it amazing, cum irritating, that the word 'magnate' has only ever been used in connection with Lang and Gina, btw.
Big business might well hate red tape but it also loves immigration (aka cheap, willing labour).
Surely, One Nation is stealing votes from NP/LP, not ALP/GREENS/TEALS, and we will therefore see no difference in government or policy.
Next, I doubt the response to COVID would have been other than it was had One Nation been in control.
All over the planet we had similar responses with politically diverse leadership.
Hanson is tapping into a vein of significant white working class economic pain and associated disgruntlement.
Farage and Trump have been doing similar. They are political opportunists with no capacity (or intention) to deliver better outcomes for the peasants/plebs.
Solution? There isn't one.
I'm not sure about Hanson but I believe that Malcolm Roberts is sincere in his opposition to Covid and WHO overreach. But I agree with you that grievance politics is not a solution, and the problem for reactionary populism is that the party defines itself by what it's AGAINST when it's out of power, but must redefine itself by what it's FOR once it gains a foothold.
I saw Hanson speak on the vax mandates and I was pretty convinced it came staight from the heart. I was not a One Nation voter at that time but she certainly was passionate about the right to choose, as am I.
Malcolm Roberts is always worth watching. He does such a good job in Senates Estimates. He is a fighter.
The Libs lost me during Covid. I just could not believe what they and Labor reduced this Nation to and that we allowed them to do it. Alex Antic being the obvious exception.
For me, ATM, there is no other choice than ON.
It’s a fight against socialism, Evad. One Nation are for Australians, not global elitists. Their policies certainly would improve Australia and return it back to the democratic capitalist society it’s always been. One where everyone gets a fair go, so long as they commit to Australian values and want to be ‘Australian’.
Capitalism + AI = mass unemployment
Meanwhile, 'democracies' do not work.
Sorry mate, I beg to differ. Feel free to name a better system.